Koyaanisqatsi has been my favorite movie ever since the first time I accidentally caught it on TV almost 20 years ago. I've since been to live screenings with Glass and his Ensemble playing it, etc. :-)

And.. despite eventually discovering what Reggio is about, I have always taken the opposite view of the movie. To me it feels like a neutral view of how systematized our world is, how technology enables such systems, and how such systems are a fundamental and valuable part of moving forwards as a species. Humans = technology = systems.. but positivity for such things is my world view anyway, and Koy is a blank enough canvas to take this on.

The second sequel Naqoyqatsi felt like a more on the nose critique of the ills of technology and modern society to me, made up entirely of stock video set to a fragile but very human soundtrack, in contrast to Koy.

It's been a while. I'll rewatch it and see if I can take your view of it. Yes, humans have been driven to refine systems and tools since day one.

If that was the intent of the film, it didn't work on me. It starts out with shots of nature and then I guess the idea was supposed to be, "Along comes mankind, industrialism ruins everything, life is out of balance!". But the problem is that it is all so gorgeous. Shots of Pruitt–Igoe being blown up, the Twinkie factory assembly line, traffic jams, bridges collapsing, a rocket exploding, all shot so that they are beautiful trippy visual wallpaper.

True the film is captivating on the aesthetic layer, with manufactured landscapes appearing as beautiful as the natural ones. Sounds like some viewers pull a positive (or neutral) message out of that equivalence.

I don't see it as positive or neutral, more like unintentionally nihilistic. I consider it a failed propaganda movie that is very successful as art for art's sake.

And maybe that was the artist's intent all along. From the title I doubt it but I read that originally the filmmaker wanted it released without any title.

> made me realize the degree to which society has been mechanized, how our alienation to nature

There is a nice segment about industrialization in Planet of the Humans. I wouldn't mind if they made another full length movie out of it.

To me it had the opposite effect. The gradual transition from nature to more urban/industrial scenes awoke the feeling in me that humans and society are just part of the same nature.

I think a lot about the meaning of the word lately (“ life out of balance”), really sums up the zeitgeist.

I was going to give the same movie. Excellent and special movie.